


And in an Instant...

by Intrepid_Inkweaver



Category: Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
Genre: Canonical Character Death, F/F, F/M, Gratuitous use of italics, POV Second Person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-18
Updated: 2018-07-18
Packaged: 2019-06-12 08:47:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 534
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15336210
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Intrepid_Inkweaver/pseuds/Intrepid_Inkweaver
Summary: ...All Would Be Lost(The world’s at stake. What’s one life? Not his. Please, gods, not his.)





	And in an Instant...

The fighting _(and the screams, gods, the screams)_  rings into your ears all around you as you escort Martin _(keep him alive, damn it, he has to live through this, even if I don’t)_ to the Temple of the One. He keeps trying to run to help beleaguered Blades, and as much as it pains you to do so, you’ve been forced to grab him and pull him away from your brothers and sisters. Baurus is still out in front of you, doing what he can to clear a path and you have to keep up. Even through the chaos, Martin’s ominous words echo in your head-- _I know now what I was born to do._ They fill you with an uncertain but powerful sort of dread. _(What’s he planning? What’s he going to do?)_ The desperate scream that loses from your lips as you cleave in the helmet of a Dremora that made the mistake of attacking him is more fear than battle-rage. _(I can’t lose him.)_

When you finally fall through the temple doors, Baurus standing guard over the entrance, Martin turns to you and the look on his face makes the cold pit in your stomach freeze solid. You grab him by the upper arms. “Martin, __no.__ Whatever you’re planning, __don’t do it.”__ The _please_ is unspoken.(You know he will anyway. You wouldn’t love him the way you do if he wouldn’t.) (The world’s at stake. What’s one life? _Not his. Please, gods, not his.)_

He reaches up oh-so-gently to cup both hands around your face. His eyes _(oh, so blue, so blue, I would have drowned if I hadn’t been so damned careful)_ are sad, but he smiles. He says softly, “I do what I must,” and you feel like your heart’s stopped beating and there are tears running unnoticed down your cheeks. Your hands have moved to cup his face in a mirror of his on your's and the only words you can get out are, “No, Martin, no,” breathless and broken.

And he’s crying too, you can see the tears in his eyes, and his cheeks are wet under your hands, and he leans in and kisses you as though he’s trying to pour everything into this one kiss, all the things neither of you ever said, and you respond in kind. When he pulls away, it’s with a soft caress to your cheek and a glaringly unspoken _I love you._ “Stay back,” he says firmly, moving towards the dais.

Mehrunes Dagon breaks through the wall of the temple at the same instant that Martin shatters the Amulet of Kings. As the rubble rains down around you, it’s nothing short of a miracle that keeps you and Baurus from being buried. It nearly keeps you from seeing the moment that the man who had come to mean everything to you disappears. In his place, the dragon avatar stands tall. 

The battle between god and daedra is brief, and the quiet in the aftermath is more deafening than the battle itself as you stare up at the expanse of stone above you. In that moment, all you can do is wish you could turn to stone as well.

**Author's Note:**

> This is originally meant to be my Hero, Niiryn, but since it's in second person, obviously it could be anyone. I'm not happy with the ending and it is subject to change.


End file.
